


8766 Hours

by AGL03



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 4722 Hours AU, F/M, FitzSimmons - Freeform, Like way AU, Space Princess Jemma, Tumblr Prompt, season 1 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:51:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7787458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AGL03/pseuds/AGL03
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr Prompt: We saw on the show Fitz save Jemma from the planet. I have seen a fic where Jemma saves Fitz. I have seen one where Fitz was the "Will" and they found each other. How about one where Jemma is the "Will" and Fitz was the one sucked into the monolith.   Here you go, a different take on 4722 Hours...where Fitz is forced through the portal....</p>
            </blockquote>





	8766 Hours

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Anon….well I hope you like the direction I took this. I ran the risk of it turning into a huge monster of a fic so forgive me if it seems choppy. Someone is welcome to adopt it and fill it in if you like…but for now…enjoy.

"….either way your services will be required," Garrett said with a bow staring down at Fitz as he stood in line with May and Coulson. Surrounded by Hydra agents in the middle of the Hub. Their attempt to free the Bus from the over run Hub's control now a complete and utter failure. 

Fitz glared back at him defiantly and despite the tears streaming down his face he shot back. "You are going to suffer for what you've done, and I plan on being a very big part of that." 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Coulson's lips twitched in the slightest of proud smiles before Garrett grabbed his arm in a vice like grip and pulled him away from his team.

Fitz let out a startled cry while Coulson and May made to move forward, the guards stepping forward in warning with raised weapons. 

"I like you kid and we have a very special project for a big brain like yours," Garrett said as he started pulling him towards the door. 

Fitz felt his heart leap into his throat, Garrett was taking him away! He planted his feet and began to struggle in earnest, turning back to look at Coulson and May who wore worried looks of their own. Garrett only paused at the door with a wicked smile on his face. "Phil its been a real pleasure. Don’t you worry, I'll take real good care of him."

"Garrett!" Coulson shouted "We will make you pay for this!"

Garrett shrugged and gave one last bow, "All yours boys."

Fitz screamed as he was pulled out the doors and into the hall. The lights flickering ominously following the distant sounds of an explosion. Both men looked up before the sounds of guns firing echoed in the room behind him.

"Coulson! May!" Fitz cried again, trying to wrench himself free, get to them, help them. Unable to escape. "Let me go!" he cried again throwing every move Ward had ever shown him at his captor. "I'll never work for Hydra so you might as well kill me now!"

"You won't have a choice kid," Garrett said, grunting as Fitz landed a kick to the knee. Growing tired of the struggles and knowing that the lights were not part of his plan he decided it was time to get out of there before Shield managed to get their act together. He adjusted his hold on the struggling engineer and reached into his pocked to pull out the syringe full of sedative he'd brought along. Ripping the cap off with his teeth he stabbed it into the boys arm, watching with joy as the fight slowly left him and he slumped into his arms. 

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

Fitz awoke hours later his vision flurry and his head pounding. The last thing he had remembered was the Hub and Garrett dragging him away. He took a moment to gather himself and assure himself that his team was fine, they had gotten out of worse. Ward, Skye, and Tripp would get to May and Coulson in time. Or vise versa, May was the Cavalry after all.

Him on the other hand was another matter all together.

With a groan he sat up, finding his hands bound tightly behind his back against a cold stone wall. At first he though he was in a dungeon before his began to clear and the hum of machinery met his ears. 

"There's our little space traveler," a new voice called, a slightly heavy set man coming up to him with Garrett at his side like a proud puppy. "Your sure he'll be able to do it?"

Fitz felt his temper flare but bit his tongue and settled for glaring defiantly back. 

"I'm sure," Garrett said confidently. "Had my eye on him since the Academy for this but Coulson swept him away onto that flying circus and I couldn't get my hands on him until today."

Finally having enough Fitz snapped back, "I told you, you might as well kill me because I will not do a bloody thing you want!" 

The new comer laughed with Garrett, "You really won't have a choice in the matter Agent Fitz," he said motioning for Garrett to pull Fitz up off the floor. Garrett tugged him to the center of the room where an ominous black rock sat in the middle of a well. A full backpack next to it. 

"Your going on a trip Agent Fitz as a very good friend of ours is trapped on the other side of this portal here. He needs your help to get back-" the white haired man purred.

"Piss off!" Fitz snapped struggling again as the drug began to fully wear off. 

The man sighed in annoyance and looked to Garrett, "I told you he had spunk Malick," the traitor offered. 

Malick didn't look impressed, motioning to the goon at the controls to start, the castle rumbling around them before the rock dissolved into a shimmering mass of liquid. "Here's the deal Agent Fitz, if you ever want to come home you will figure out how to get our guest back as well! Come back without IT and we will simply throw you right back in missing finger or toe."

Without so much as another word, Garrett sliced the ties on his wrists and shoved him into the abyss.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

Fitz hadn't had anytime to process what was happening before he was flying through the air, landing harshly on sandy ground, the backpack he had seen next to the portal followed with a thud before the portal disappeared into the sands.

"No!" Fitz screamed crawling forward and digging frantically with his hands. "No! Take me back! Take me back!" His frantic digging giving way to sobs and he fell to his knees into the dirt. His entire world had crashed down around him in less than twenty four hours. 

He didn’t know how long it took but eventually his sobs subsided and his tears dried in the dusty sand. Wearily he sat down and pulled the backpack they had sent with him. It wasn’t standard field pack. Loaded with a single container of water, bit of food, and multiple tablets and laptops. He wanted to throw the electronics away in another act of defiance. But he also wanted to get home. Without bringing whatever the hell they wanted him to bring back with him.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

He had lost track of exactly how long he'd been here. Best he could tell at least six days. The endlessly blue planet had two moons but no sun. Something that was starting to grate on Fitz to no end. And though he had been careful with his food and water, the meager rations had run out and he was feeling the crushing effects of dehydration as he struggled up another dune. 

With every agonizing step he told himself that just over this rise he'd find water, food, anything to get him by a few more days. Perhaps even a safe place to build a shelter and establish a base camp. 

He crested the ridge with a rattling breath, looking down into the valley and felt his heart plummet into his empty stomach. Nothing but sand there to greet him. Had he been able too he would have cried. Rather he wearily began to make his way back down. Only make it a few unsteady steps before his legs gave out and he tumbled down the hill. The world around him fading into blissful black.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

The next time Fitz awoke is was more comfortable than he'd been in ages, whatever was beneath him felt amazingly like a bed and not the unforgiving sand. He let out a groan and moved to pull himself up, realizing with a start his hands were once again bound, only this time to the posts of a bed. 

Even though he was weak he pulled at them frantically and the thick rope offered no give. "Stop that!" a feminine voice ordered as a girl no older than him ran into the room carrying a tray. "You'll hurt yourself," she chastised. 

Was this who Hydra wanted him to bring back? Some sort of alien Warrior Space Princess? Her tattered clothes looked to be what was left of a flight suit and her accent was distinctly English. 

"Let me go and I will," Fitz insisted feebly pulling at the bonds again. To which the girl rolled her eyes and pulled a chair over to his side. 

"Have some water," she offered pressing a chipped cup to his lips. Fitz new better and wanted to jerk his head away maybe spit her face for good measure. But the tepid liquid touched his chapped lips and he couldn't help but drink greedily. Coughing as it ran down his parched throat. 

The girl looked pleased as she pulled the cup away. "Now tell me," she said her voice suddenly dripping with venom, "What lovely little branch of Hydra are you with?"

Fitz jerked back "I'm not Hydra!" he hissed back with just as much venom. "They kidnapped me and tossed me into that ruddy portal so I could 'bring their friend back'. I’m assuming that is you since you’re the only person I've seen since landing on this rock." 

The look on her face softened, "They kidnapped you too?" she asked.

Too? Fitz nodded slowly feeling as if he'd made an arse of himself already. "I’m with Shield….there was a coup if you will. I was taken from my team and someone named Malick sent me through. Not quite sure what they want me to do but I have a backpack full of tablets and laptops I haven't had a chance to turn on."

"Gideon Malick," the girl said sadly. "I learned too late he's a Hydra head, he recruited me to NASA when I was younger. I nearly went to the Shield academy but he convinced me NASA would be better use of my talents. When they proposed a risky and impossible mission with no information as to what it entailed, I refused. They didn't take no for an answer and forced me through with a contingent of their men."

"So there are others?" Fitz asked not thrilled they were Hydra but at least it was someone else.

"Not anymore," she said pulling out a knife and working on the ropes. "IT got them."

Fitz cautiously sat up and rubbed his wrists, "IT?"

"IT," she confirmed "The thing that lives on this planet, that destroyed the civilization that was here before, the thing that Hydra send me and now you to bring back."

"Well that's not happening, though I…we are going home….we just aren't going to bring that thing back with us and will make them pay," Fitz said and he finally earned a smile from his savior. 

"Jemma Simmons, Astronomy," she said holding her hand out to him.

Her smile was contagious and he took her hand in his own, feeling a thrill run from his fingers to his toes. "Leopold Fitz, Engineering."

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

Weeks and then months passed and the unlikely pair fell into step with one another. It turned out that Jemma had already been hard at work finding a way home. Having been tracking the stars, moons, and the portals for the two years she had been stranded there. Just lacking the technology to do the calculations.

For Fitz, Jemma was nothing sort of remarkable. So much so he desperately wished she'd gone to Shield instead. They would have been at the Academy together, possibly even been friends. 

She had escaped from her Hydra captors not long after being brought over, hiding in the ruins of an ancient and decimated city they refused to come near due to it being in the "no fly zone". The goons getting picked off by the creature one by one. 

As for how she had escaped IT's wrath for so long. Jemma theorized the creature somehow knew she possessed the knowledge that could get them out of there and let her be, only appearing when she ventured out hoping to catch a portal. 

They worked so easily together, as if they had been doing so for a decade. Plugging Jemma's pages of observations into the tablets, Fitz managing to rig a generator out of the pieces of equipment Jemma had salvaged from the previous ill fated missions. 

"Fitz, dinner," she called form the kitchen of what had become their apartment. It wasn't much, one of the few solid surviving rooms in the city but Jemma had made it home. And compared to the rocky caves it was quite comfortable. 

"Just a minute," he called back entering the last of her observations and taking a breath. With all the factors entered he could start running the program he'd designed and project the next portal's location. He pressed enter and watch the program begin to run before heading to the table he'd built from scavenged materials. 

As always the meal wasn't much, what they managed to dig up or bits of the monstrous plants that lived in the bodies of water. But it was a meal with pleasant company in a desperate situation. "I started the program," he said pulling out her chair for her before taking his own. The simple gesture now nothing short of habit. 

Jemma smiled, "How long will it take to calculate the location?" she asked having not dared hope this much in ages. 

Fitz shrugged. "Could be an hour could take a few days. And even when we get it we will still need to adjust the program as we go and wait for an accessible portal." 

Jemma's smile faltered slightly but understood. The moons determined where and when the portal would open and the planet was wrought with natural obstacles. Fitz seemed to sense her sadness and his hand gave hers a quick squeeze, "But we'll sort it out. Be home in no time." 

Fitz had been a buoy of hope for her since his arrival and this was no exception. "What happens when we go for the portal Fitz?" she asked in the next essential step in their plan to get out of here.

Fitz had been giving that some thought as well. In his months on the planet he had seen the cloaked creature on more than one occasion when out with Jemma scouting for food or to track the sky. The sandstorms offering them early warning of its looming presence. The creature always keeping its distance as they ran away. Like them, biding IT's time until escape. 

"I have something," Fitz said nodding to his backpack. "It’s a concussive device that renders whatever it hits within a twenty foot radius unconscious. At the very least should be enough to blast him back enough for us to get through, the portal is only open for sixty seconds at best."

"If you had such a weapon why didn't you use it to prevent being taken?" she asked.

"Never got the chance," Fitz said wishing he'd thrown the thing as soon as Garrett started his little speech. "By the time we realized what was going on it was too late. I was unconscious or bound once Garret took me. We're just lucky they never bothered to search my pockets. I have two actually, but if possible I'd like to save one for when we come through the portal on the other side. We're going to be walking right into Hydra's hands again and we'll need something to give us a chance at getting away from them and calling Shield…if there is a Shield left to call." 

Jemma smiled again allowing herself to picture the wretched thing that had hunted her for so long getting blasted away. "From what you have told me about your friends, they'll be fine, if not looking for you," she said knowing no one was still looking for her. Often wondering what her poor parents were told about her disappearance. 

"I think you'd fit in well with them," Fitz said fondly as he finished the meager meal. "The team, that is. Maybe when we get back you can stay with us, at the very least until you get your feet back on the ground."

Jemma hadn't really thought about what would happen after she got home and past the initial reunion with her family. And frankly after these months she couldn’t imagine her life without him. "I'd like that very much," she finally said finishing her own meal. 

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

It took three days but finally the program chimed its completion in the middle of the 'night', Fitz and Simmons shooting up from their respective beds. Fitz having found his own very quickly after deciding to stay with Jemma. The gentlemen in him felt it improper to sleep in her bed when he hardly knew her. 

They nearly ran into each other in their hast to look at the monitor and the coordinates starting back at them. Fitz rattled them off as Jemma pulled out her detailed maps. Her hands shaking as the traced the coordinates to their location. "Its close! Less than a days walk," she said tears of joy filling her eyes turning to Fitz. "When will it open?" she asked holding her breath. 

Fitz looked away from the screen and she saw he had tears of his own tracking down his cheeks. "Six weeks," he said happily "This is it, we're going home!"

Without thinking Jemma threw herself into his arms with a cry of joy, delighted when his strong arms closed around her and spun her around in delight before setting her down and pulling away just enough to look at her properly. "We're going home Jemma," he said his voice dropping and his hands stroking her cheek. 

Mesmerized by his eyes, her hand slipped up to his stubbled cheek. "We're going home Fitz," she breathed. Their eyes were locked and neither one knew who moved first, but in an instant their lips had joined in a soft kiss. 

The first brushes were tentative before the dam broke and the kisses deepened. Hands grew bolder and more urgent until Fitz found himself tugging at the buttons of her jump suit, hers slipped under what was left of his shirt and pulled it over his head. The remaining articles quickly fell away as they fell into bed for the rest of the night. A new phase of their relationship born of Hope.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

"Its going to be close but it looks like we're going to make it," Fitz said squeezing Jemma's hand that was clasped in his own. In the other the dying tablet on its last legs to led them to the portal. They had intentionally cut it close. Making it look like they'd been scouting the stars in hopes the creature wouldn't realize what they were up too until it was too late. 

"And still no sign of the creature," Jemma said looking around. Expecting the sandstorm to pick up at any moment now. The thought making her shudder and once again check to make sure the tether was still secured around both of their waists. A precaution against being separated. 

"Maybe he overslept," Fitz said with a smirk as they came around the bend to where the map had indicated the portal would open any moment now.   
Jemma was about to roll her eyes when before them the sands began to swirl and the familiar form of a portal formed not a hundred feet away. 

"Or maybe he knew it would be you that would get him out of here," a gravelly voice said from behind them. 

Fitz moved first, spinning and pulling Jemma behind him as the cloaked figure closed in. IT had never talked before. "Thousands of years and hundreds of sacrifices. And it was you two, my unwilling guests that figured it out. You shall be rewarded greatly for your work." As the creature spoke tentacles slithered out from under the hood but his face remained hidden. 

Slowly Jemma reached into Fitz's back pocket and grabbed the concussive devices from where he had hidden them. "We will never work for Hydra and you will never get back to earth! I read the records I know what you did!" Jemma snapped, throwing the first device and yanking Fitz down to the ground with her.

The creature cocked his head in interest as it launched into the air, an ominous whine the only warning he received before the blue wave burst from the device and threw him back. 

Neither one waited to see if he stayed down. Fitz up first and pulling Jemma with him as she ran to the portal. Not daring to look back as they jumped into the abyss once more, together.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

Fitz kicked frantically while his hand clutched to Jemma's desperately as a black liquid surrounded them. He felt like he was drowning in darkness until the it receded away like a wave leaving him and Jemma pressed against the side of a glass case. 

He could help but cry out in pain as the bright light assaulted him and an alarm blared. Panicked voices saying to get them out. He felt hands pulling him out while Jemma's hand was wrenched from his grasp.

Jemma was calling for him, unable to bear the light and open her eyes. 

"Fitz!" she cried.

"Call the commander!"

"Get more security down here!"

"All security teams to containment!" 

"Secure them!"

The voices shouted and Fitz began to fight in earnest, remembering Malick's threat if he came back without the creature. "Jemma, throw it!" he shouted in the chaos. Grateful his eyes had started adjust enough he could see again. 

The portal hadn't spit them back out at the castle he'd been taken through, rather the steel walls and agents in black tact gear suggested a warehouse or ship of some sort. 

The men froze for just a moment turning their attention to Jemma too late as she let the second device fly. The men in the room all falling at their feet. 

Fitz didn't waste any time, using the tether to pull Jemma to him again. Sparing a moment to hold her tight and kiss her head in comfort. "Just hang on Jemma, I know it’s a lot but we just need to find a communications room and I can get us help." 

She nodded as her watery eyes blinked against the light. Fitz handed her one of the guns from the fallen agents and taking one of his own before they ran into the halls. The narrow passage suggesting it was a ship rather than a warehouse. A ship with very poor signage Fitz thought bitterly as they ran. 

"Freeze!" a booming voice ordered as they rounded another bend. Fitz pointing his gun at the biggest man he had ever seen emerging from one of the rooms. 

"Don’t move!" another voice ordered from behind, this one belonged to a tall blonde woman who was armed with a pair of metal staves. The woman gasped as she looked at them, quickly motioning the charging men back. "Agent Fitz?" she questioned carefully.

Fitz tensed up and raised his weapon slightly higher. "We're not going back there!" He said his voice slightly shaking when he realized just how outnumbered they were. "I told you when you sent me through I wouldn't bring that thing back!"

The blonde took another slow step forward, even lowering her staves. "Agent Fitz, my name is Agent Bobbi Morse of Shield, your on a ship called the Illiad. Director Coulson reported you missing after the fall-"

Fitz pulled his gun up higher, "Nice try," he snapped. "Its Agent Coulson not Director, Hydra really needs to work on its intel! Now get out of our way or we start shooting." 

Bobbi still continued moving forward, "Its Director now," she said carefully. "He assumed command after Director Fury and Agent Hand were killed in the fall. You were part of his covert team with Agents May and Ward. On your very first mission you picked up a hacker named Skye. Your unit was nicknamed the Bus. Your first name is Leopold but you prefer to be called Fitz. You were kidnapped by John Garrett from the Hub….and he refused to ever tell anyone what he had done with you right up to his death. Every Shield agent knows you and is looking for you. Every mission, every Hydra base we take down we look for evidence of where you were." 

Fitz still didn't budge, "Every bit of that Hydra would have known since they were so deep in Shield!" Fitz snapped again preparing to shoot his way out. They had come too far to get sent back now. 

"You love monkey's. You wanted to train one to work in the lab with you but could never get the clearance for it," the man on the other side of the hall said. Like Bobbi his hands were up in a non threatening gesture. "Look Turbo, I can see you two have been through hell but I need you to trust us that we are the good guys. We are Shield."

Fitz stared at him for a moment before slowly lowering his weapon. Jemma silently following his lead and pressed up tightly against Fitz. Bobbi closed the final bit of distance getting close enough to see how thin they were. She and Mack forced to rush forward to catch them as the adrenaline gave out and the collapsed to the ground. 

Bobbi cradled Jemma while Mack did Fitz, noting their hands were still clutched together even in this state. "We need to call Coulson." 

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

Bobbi sat outside of the Quarantine Room keeping a close eye on her sleeping patients. They lay side by side in medical beds with IV's in their arms feeding them fluids and desperately needed nutrients. Her team had cut the filthy clothes away and put them in the most comfortable pajamas Mack could find. A sedative ensuring they rested and stayed under, at the very least until Coulson arrived. 

Which by the sounds of running coming down the hall would be any second now. 

It was a young woman that was first there, long dark brown hair wild and her hands to her mouth as she looked through the window and let out a shuttering sob. "Its him!" she cried turning into the waiting arms of Agent Ward. 

Bobbi had worked with him on a handful of ops since the fall. He was good, driven, yet had been wracked with guilt due to being unable to protect the young engineer from the snake that was his former mentor. He often spoke of Fitz like a little brother. He pulled Skye to him and slumped in relief.

Agent Triplett was there too with a wide smile. Agent May and Director Coulson the last to come in.

"Report," Coulson said going to the window and looking at his young agent.

"We don’t know much, we've had them both under sedation since they passed out after emerging from the monolith. The girl with him is named Jemma…our teams are working on the rest but perhaps Agent Skye will be able to find more on her. But they are very close. Both suffer from dehydration, malnutrition, deficient in every vitamin you can think of, multiple healed wounds, sensitivity to light and sound. I can almost guarantee that there will be some PTSD involved." Bobbi ran down the list, watching as the looks on their faces darkened in danger and May's knuckles audibly cracked. 

"Where were they?" Coulson asked.

Bobbi sighed, their science team currently running every test they could on the rock. "We don't know, they came out of the Monolith we obtained from Hydra when we took that castle in England. Agent Fitz said they wouldn't "go back" or bring something back with them. I didn't want to wake him again without you here. He wasn’t easy to convince we weren't Hydra and it’s a good thing you told us about the monkey thing because they took out a room full of armed agents with some sort of device and were about to shoot there way out of here."

Coulson looked proud and small smiled curved on his lips. "He's quite resourceful. Is it safe to wake them? Or just Agent Fitz?"

Bobbi looked hesitant but nodded. "Just one of you in the room until we see how he reacts again." The team looked as if they wanted to argue, especially Agent Ward, but remained silent.

Coulson followed Bobbi, concerned when she stopped just before the doors and out of earshot of the team. "Director, there is one more thing. The girl is pregnant. Its early, no more than six weeks, but pregnant none the less. I doubt she even has realized yet."

"We will just wake Fitz then, he can fill us in and then decide how to proceed from there," he concluded. 

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

For Fitz it felt like he was descending from a cloud, warm and safe for the first time in months. The comfort of Jemma's hand in his own assured him she was close. Gone was the musty smell of the apartment and it was replaced with the strong smell of antiseptic. That alone causing him to sit up in a panic. 

Strong hands grabbed his shoulders, "Easy Fitz its safe, you are both safe," Coulson soothed helping him lay back down. Fitz's eyes welling with tears at the sight of his boss.

"I thought you were dead," Fitz said.

"I had started to fear the same thing for you," Coulson confessed. "I was about to go to Glasgow and see your Mother when the call came in." 

"The others?" Fitz asked the worry back in his voice.

"We all made it through," Coulson said. "Ward and Skye caused the power flicker and that was all May and I needed. But by the time we got past the guards, Garrett had taken you. He was killed in custody by Hydra to prevent him from talking."

Fitz knew Coulson wanted him to fill in the pieces but was just too tired to tell the whole thing. Instead settling for the cliff notes version until he and Jemma were more settled. "He took me to a castle where a Head name Gideon Malick was waiting. The monolith is a portal to another planet where some sort of creature lives. A creature Hydra wanted brought back. They threw me over in hopes I'd figure out how to get IT back. The planet is a wasteland and luckily Jemma found me before I succumbed to dehydration." 

Coulson turned his attention to the girl, his anger at Hydra escalating once again. So much so he hoped there was a base he could personally lay waste too in order to vent his anger. Skye no doubt already working with Malick's name and freezing any assets she could find. Fitz followed his gaze. "Her name is Jemma Simmons, Malick recruited her to NASA under false pretenses before Shield could and she was forced over for the same purpose. She was close too, it only took me rigging the tech and putting the finishing touches to get it all to work. I used one of the concussive devices at the portal to keep the creature back….and the other here. I thought we'd come back in the middle of a Hydra base."

"I understand Fitz," He said gently. Coulson could see the simple conversation was taking its toll. "We are going to take care of both of you, I promise. As for the monolith, I'm sure Ward and May will take great pleasure in laying waste to it with some of our bigger guns."

Hearing it was going to be destroyed helped Fitz relax even more and he sunk back into the pillows. "She saved my life Sir. I hope you'll allow her to stay on. She can work with me in the lab, her degree is in Astronomy but she has secondary degrees in bio chemistry," he said looking over at Jemma. Wanting nothing more that to pull her into his bed and to his side as he had been back on the planet these last few weeks. The IV's and monitors making that impossible for now. 

"You seem to make a very good team and I wouldn't dream of splitting you up," Coulson said as Fitz's eyes began to droop again. Only making a noise of agreement before he slipped off once more.

Coulson made sure he was fully asleep before getting up, careful not to break the connection. There was still much more to be worked out and said. But for now they were safe and home. 

As expected his team was still at the window save for Skye. She sat on the floor with her laptop and her fingers flying in a blur. "Well Mr. Malick that is quite the lovely nest egg you have the in the Bahamas….whoops would you look at that, it just all transferred to World Wildlife fund." Coulson knew he should stop her but at the moment could care less what she did. And left her to her wireless revenge. 

"Skye when you are done decimating his assets would you mind tracking down Miss Simmons, find her family. She's going to be staying with us for a bit." The hacker didn't look up, merely pausing her typing long enough for a thumbs up. Coulson turned to his other agents, "You guys up for a little rock crushing?"

Even May smiled at the prospect.

"Agent Morse, keep me apprised of any changes and when they will be ready to travel. I'd like to take them back to the Playground," The Director said as he headed for the door with his specialists in tow.   
"Yes sir," Bobbi said "but I suggest picking up Agent Mackenzie on your way down there. He has never been too fond of that thing and packs quite the punch himself."

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

Six Months Later

Fitz shot up with the start in the dark of his bunk gasping for air as he oriented himself to his surroundings. It only took a matter of moments for Jemma's hands to wrap around him, her soothing voice whispering in his ear, and her expanding stomach to press into his side. 

This was part of their routine. At least once every few days one of them would wake from a nightmare. Their dreams tearing them back to the barren wasteland alone and before they had found each other. 

"I'm okay," Fitz said as he held her arms around him and leaned into her touch. 

"Garrett?" she asked pulling him as close as her growing belly would allow. 

Fitz only nodded, hating that he relived that fateful day over and over in his dreams. Only in his dreams his team didn't make it out and he was greeted by Jemma's mangled and lifeless body as he came through the portal. 

They sat in silence until his breathing had slowed down and Fitz pulled away just enough to look her in the eye. Tucking a stray hair before her ear. "But if he hadn't taken me I would have never found you," He said sincerely. "And now I can't imagine living in any world without you in it."

Jemma smiled and found herself misting up at the weight of his words. She pulled him in for a gentle kiss having to break away as her stomach began to flutter. She grabbed Fitz's hand and placed it over the spot so he could feel the tiny kicks. 

He loved it when she did that, leaning down to place a few butterfly kisses to the spot. "I didn't forget about you baby girl, daddy has enough kisses for both you and mommy," he said fondly. 

Letting out a contented sigh Fitz settled back into the pillows. He didn’t' dare look at the clock to see how many precious hours of sleep he had left before they were to report to the lab for the day. 

Comfortable again he opened his arms to Jemma and she curled up against him. Their bodies perfectly molded together even with the bump between them. 

Content Fitz dropped back off quickly as Jemma lay awake just watching him sleep, her fingers intertwining with his own. "And I can't either," she whispered in the darkness. "I'd do the planet all over again if I knew it would bring you to me….bring us our daughter….our family. I love you Fitz and you will never have to live in a world without me in it again."


End file.
